nightrider Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Colin, Without putting too fine a point on the subject I have bone cancer which is spreading at a rate of knots, am I worried? no. I asked my oncologist what did she think my life expectancy was? She said 18 months, I will be the one to know first that my life is not worth while and I will be the one to say put me down because I have no quality of life, how they do it I dont know, an overdose, withdrawal of food and liquids? as long as I am in no pain and I am clean I have no qualms at all, at the age of 71 I have outlived many of the people I know, I have told my oncologist what my thoughts are and under no circumstances am I to be resusitated which is now on my medical records. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwyn Posted December 26, 2012 Share Posted December 26, 2012 and there you have the point of confidentiality. When I was nursing I've lost count of the number of times in the past thank goodness where a patients wishes on their passing and care have been over ridden by relatives, it breaks your heart to have to do things which you knew were contrary to what the patient wanted, I say thank goodness those days are gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 knight of the road - 2012-12-25 12:25 PM Colin, Without putting too fine a point on the subject I have bone cancer which is spreading at a rate of knots, am I worried? no. I asked my oncologist what did she think my life expectancy was? She said 18 months, I will be the one to know first that my life is not worth while and I will be the one to say put me down because I have no quality of life, how they do it I dont know, an overdose, withdrawal of food and liquids? as long as I am in no pain and I am clean I have no qualms at all, at the age of 71 I have outlived many of the people I know, I have told my oncologist what my thoughts are and under no circumstances am I to be resusitated which is now on my medical records. Malcolm, I've pondered your post for a while as I couldn't work out how it related to mine. I think you may have misunderstood what I meant in my post, I'm not talking of relatives going in and trying to get treatment that might extend life by a short while, I'm talking of basic 'nursing' a practice that is sadly lacking in many hospitals nowadays. One of the favorite 'tricks' nowadays is not bothering to change a soiled bed in the last hour of a shift, leave it to the next shift, who of cause spend their first hour on other business, so a patient spends two hours in a soiled bed. Or how about leaving drink just out of reach of a bed ridden patient, it happens all day every day, I've lost count of the times I've had to moved drink closer to a patient. And then theirs the inability to correctly administer drugs, that realy winds up the nursing staff when you question why they have not given the correct drugs at the correct times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwyn Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Do you know I really hate the health care professional bashing which goes on now. Yes care is not what it should be, yes mistakes are made but instead of everyone bashing the staff as the easiest target, ask yourself why and the answer is easy its the lack of staff. I have been a nurse and midwife for more than 40 years and I have seen it get harder and harder to fulfill the role I love. I am a midwife now which is slightly less back breaking work than nursing, although I work mainly 11 hour night shifts these days I rarely if ever stop. I certainly never get my unpaid hours break and I come home absolutely knackered but very frustrated and angry that I am unable to care for these women as I would like because generally I am looking after 12 - 15 ladies all with differing needs and also running the ward and fully expecting at any minute to have a member of staff pulled to the delivery suite giving me an extra 12-15 to look after. I know that it is much worse in nursing, the staff are demoralised and exhausted and unfortunately we are only human beings and the patients suffer. BUT don't blame us, blame the trusts who set our staff/patient ratio and tell us we're fully staffed according to their idea of what we can do, blame the government for systematically reducing spending in the NHS. We are at breaking point, morale is rock bottom as every time there is publicity in the papers the people in authority jump on the bandwagon and blame the workers as the easy target when they know full well where the fault lies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 gwyn - 2012-12-30 9:43 AM Do you know I really hate the health care professional bashing which goes on now. .... and I don't like doctors, nurses, midwives etc to be referred to as " health care professionals " Makes 'em sound like a load of footballers. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 malc d - 2013-01-01 4:00 PM gwyn - 2012-12-30 9:43 AM Do you know I really hate the health care professional bashing which goes on now. .... and I don't like doctors, nurses, midwives etc to be referred to as " health care professionals " Makes 'em sound like a load of footballers. ;-) Well perhaps if they started treating their patients as human beings instead of treating them like animals then the bashing might ease a bit. It speaks absolute volumes when the "health care professional" have to be TOLD to LEARN a bit of compassion don't you think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwyn Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Actually being 'told to learn' a bit of compassion is what I mean by management jumping on the bandwagon to cover up that they know its due to shortages of staff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 gwyn - 2013-01-02 6:40 PM Actually being 'told to learn' a bit of compassion is what I mean by management jumping on the bandwagon to cover up that they know its due to shortages of staff That's the problem with poo *-)..........once it hits the fan those that caused it like to spread it so far that they get away with keeping the filthy lucre ;-)...............that's why they're happy to deal in sh*t *-)..... Yet the mugs at the work face have to just put up.............with do do from both ends >:-(........ You'll never see a poor NHS lawyer >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 I have stayed out of this last bit of the discussion because i agree it is easy to knock the "medical profession" But i have to say it is not just about staffing levels. - it is about attitude as well. when my MiL was dying in hospital we lost count of the time we had to ask for her to be washed and taken out of her soiled bed sheets. She contracted Clostridium difficille but the Hospital denied this and as "proof" told us that tests had shown no C.dif on the ward. MiL was then released home at a moments notice where an very good Nurse and GP ordered the proper tests which confirmed C.dif. the GP told us that the hospital did not test for C.dif because that enabled them to state that "C.dif had not been found" 8-) 8-) The only Nurse that was truly caring was a gay male Nurse who was incredibly kind. Many of the other Nurses would stand there listening to you with a bored look on their face and then leave you and not be seen again! We asked if MiL could have a shower, - "Sorry the shower is out of order" The toilets for patients were quite literally covered in sh!t. I have visited public toilets that were far far cleaner. This issue with our health service is not just about staffing levels although i suspect it is part of the problem. The bigger issue did, to me, seem to be a lack of concern and a non caring attitude by staff. I was told near the end that we could visit whenever we could - so i popped in one morning on my way to an appointment and I was told by a Nurse in a very abrupt manner that i was not allowed on the Ward. I very nearly lost it at that point - but managed to stay calm but told her in no uncertain terms what i had been told previously and that i was going nowhere. later that day a lady whose mother was on the same ward was seen by my wife and I complaining to the same Nurse that their relative had not had a bed bath or wash for 5 days and was now smelling very badly. So as someone who used the facilities of the NHS for the care of an elderly relative - I would agree with those that state that the treatment of the elderly is well below the standard expected. We saw no evidence of the "Care pathway" reported recently. But that is scary and i would suggest illegal such that the Trust and individuals should be held criminally liable. But we did witness the majority of staff exhibiting a marked lack of understanding and with some an "attitude" problem that was borderline "teenager" when relevant issues were brought to their attention. This is a big issue and needs a sensible debate - not one where the medical professions gets away with saying give us more staff, more money and the problem will go away. Trowing more money at a situation where many individuals have an attitude problem is not going to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peter James Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 CliveH - 2013-01-03 8:20 AM Trowing more money at a situation where many individuals have an attitude problem is not going to work. This is true. You don't cure a spoilt child by throwing more money at them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 The terms " Health Care Professionals " and " Care Pathway " are the medical professions' equivalant of " mission statements " issued by multinationals in the private sector. It's all smoke and mirrors ( otherwise known as b*llsh*t ). As always, actions speak a lot louder than words. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.